No, not the cooking kind. One definition of pan, according to Mr. Webster, is "a natural basin or depression in land." My alternate definition would be "big flat areas of nothing."

In the dry season, these pans are barren. But when the rains come, they spring back to life...both plant life and animal life.

The pans have names. We camped near Deception Pan, but during the days our game drives took us to Sunday Pan, Leopard Pan, Tau Pan, and we spent almost one entire day on the bumpiest of sand roads to get here, Piper Pan.

We stopped for a moment for Brooks to scan the pan with his binoculars. And he saw something lying under a tree...not this tree in front, but under the third tree from the left on the horizon! Incredible eyesight and instincts! He drove us over for a closer look...

Sure enough!

A male lion with lots of still-fresh wounds, probably laying low (but not low enough to avoid Brooks' eyes!) while he heals from what was likely a fight with another male for dominance. Life is tough, even for the king of the savannah...

A few more photos of amazing creatures before we leave them and the Kalahari Desert behind...

See all the baby ostriches in the tall grass?

When the sun is high in the sky, squirrels use their tails as umbrellas to keep them cooler...

Male wildebeest scratching this tree trunk to mark his territory...

We followed this brown hyena for a short ways down the road, but it never would turn around for me to shoot a proper portrait...

Leopard tortoise...

Sparring oryx...it's all fun until someone gets their eye poked out!

Leopard meandering off into the sunset...

How lucky was this shot?! I didn't even notice that gorgeous little butterfly until I looked at this photo on my computer!

Spectacular sunrise in Deception Valley...

Vulture coming in for a landing...

A couple of young black-backed jackals. We saw oodles of them in the Kalahari reserve.

Portrait of a springbok...

Secretary bird strutting its stuff...

Those eyes...

Not all the birds are beautiful...Abdim's stork is unique, though. It's the first time we've ever seen one...they are only here in the rainy season.

A couple of teenage springbok boys doing a little sparring. Later in life they will have to fight for the right to breed.

We hated to leave this glorious place! What a great 4 days we had in the Central Kalahari Reserve...

...in and around the pans.